Approximately two years earlier, deep space aboard the cruiser Black Knight

"….and so I would like to think that we can come to a mutually beneficial agreement that ensures that no unpleasantness need occur. I have attached contact details to this message, and I hope it finds you swiftly, Wings of Hades."

The transmission ended, Zsinj's overlarge holo vanished and left the cave in silence as Garin and the others considered what Zsinj had just said.

"Quite a snob isn't he." Major Yvonne finally said tacitly.

"He probably sees himself as the next Palpatine," responded Kalan, his distaste evident even without his expression.

"That doesn't answer the question of how he found out about us, even at the peak of his power he was only an admiral he wouldn't have had clearance to know about Hades." Iriana said pointedly.

Harth shrugged, leaning back against the railing around the holoprojector, "Isard found out about us, Zsinj is known to have intelligence assets that are at least as good as the Republic or Empire. If he had agents on Coruscant within shouting distance of Isard I imagine he could have learned many things and not just about Hades."

"How astute," Vic'que said tersely, "do real palms as well?"

Harth scowled at her but said nothing; other opinions were exchanged on Zsinj's message and what it implied for Hades. All the while Garin remained silent as he considered what Zsinj was offering, supposedly in exchange for pay, Hades would be employed by Zsinj for who knew what. Though it would be against every conceivable target, from Republic and Imperial, to civilian and criminal; three of those options he wasn't adverse too, but as one of the major warlords, in fact Zsinj was arguably The Warlord, with an empire that rivaled any legitimate power in the galaxy in terms of sheer size and firepower it could bring to bear. To say that Zsinj could make Hades' lives troublesome was more of understatement than saying it of Isard; she had been a nuisance, the Empire she commanded so fractured and unstable that she hadn't had the forces to waste on Hades past that first assault. After that, the forces she had sent against Hades had been second rate at best, and more frequently third or fourth rate if not worse. Zsinj had a unified command structure as far as Garin knew, and a sizable core fleet that could be broken down into task forces in addition to a multitude of pirate and mercenary forces.

He also had far more experience in the kind of warfare that Hades was familiar with, which meant that he would be far more deadly than Isard simply for the fact that he would know the kind of war that Hades could fight and would probably know how to deal with anything that Hades attempted. His thoughts were broken when he realized that everyone was staring at him expectantly.

With a sigh, he shrugged, "we'll meet with him."

"Oh you can't be serious," Toth said aghast, "Gar he's what we've been fighting against all this time."

"No," Vic'que corrected eyeing Garin, "he's worse than anything we've gone up against. The largest organization we've fought has been sector wide, Zsinj spans several sectors. We can't fight him."

"I'm inclined to agree," Commander Kindran said, "we do not have the resources necessary to do what we did with Isard here. If we run from Zsinj he will have far more resources to bring against us and if the reports of his forces are accurate, he has maintained the Empire's standard of pre-Endor training."

"So we'd be going up against a whole lot of far more competent pilots." Matrin said grimly.

Garin nodded, "I don't like this anymore than the rest of you, but we need to at least think about this. At the very least this will give us a chance to meet our enemy."

"So he is our enemy then," Vic'que said.

"Of course he is," Garin responded, "he's just another warlord and we've been fighting those for a few years now. I see no reason to change that."

"So what do you plan to do?" Harth asked quietly.

"First, I need to speak with him."

Garin turned and left the room, Toth looked at Daru who seemed just as unsure as everyone else, no one in the room had any idea what Garin was thinking; and that made them all a little worried.

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"Wait, you were going to meet with Zsinj?" Deana's tone was one of shock, even horror; I gave an enigmatic smile and shrugged.

"I didn't have very many options at that point."

"You could have kept on running," she said pointedly.

"Not really, with Isard on the loose I didn't want to risk my people out in the open any longer."

"But she took Thyferra and never left, what were you afraid of?"

"I had no idea what Isard would do; she was a trapped and wounded animal that knew how to hold grudges. The Republic as far as I knew was ignoring her so that left open the possibility that she would pursue us, possibly with the Lusankya."

"So you just gave up and joined with Zsinj?"

"You're jumping to conclusions," I said placidly.

She seemed almost exasperated as she leaned back and glared at me, "you're not making any sense."

"And you're interrupting me," I countered calmly.

"Fine, I can't wait to hear what you did this time," I sighed at the annoyance in her voice, this was like story time in grade school.

Approximately two years earlier, Mid Rim Territories, aboard the cruiser Black Knight

"I've been following Isard's rather pitiful attempts to control your unit's movements and I must say that I am very impressed at the capabilities you exhibit. I can pay handsomely for such ability."

Garin nodded, standing with his hands clasped at his back, "what exactly do you have in mind?"

"Full military-grade salaries for you and your crew, plus bonuses for exemplary work," the towering visage of Zsinj stroked his elaborate mustache with an arrogant smile. "I think you'll find that I am being more than generous."

"Yes," Garin responded guardedly, "you understand that my unit has been fighting people like you these past few years, why should we join you?"

"Because like Isard I do not like loose ends Commander and your unit is a loose end. However unlike Isard who simply believed that you could be bullied into submission, I believe that you can be bought for the right price; and that price is as I have stated, as well as protection from the Empire, the Republic, and Isard's little farce on Thyferra."

Garin heard Iriana's drawn breath and knew what she was thinking, she and Orlis were from Thyferra, and its take over by Isard was a hard blow to both; where everyone else saw disaster, Garin had found a way to avoid Zsinj's wrath while giving his people a new goal that would in turn protect them as it gave them purpose.

"I'm sure you've realized my Lord," Garin began, his voice practically slathering Zsinj's ego, "my unit values its independence and we also consider Isard to be a personal enemy." He could see Zsinj's eyes becoming guarded, but the Warlord had not gotten where he was by being rigid, Garin had to trust in his willingness to bargain. "I propose a loose alliance, you will need bacta, which Isard will be unlikely to sell to you given your…relationship with her. We will act as your go betweens shall we say, and provide you with bacta, in exchange for supplies and protection within your space should we require it."

Zsinj's eyes flickered as he considered, stroking his mustache before he finally spoke. "Hardly an ideal arrangement from my perspective, I could simply arrange for real commerce raiders instead of wasting your unit's rather unique abilities."

The fact that he was hearing Thrawn's praise for Hades coming from Zsinj caused Garin's mouth to rise though he kept the smile from his features; letting Zsinj deliberate over what he'd been offered, finally Zsinj harrumphed loudly.

"We can't continue this discussion like this Commander; I insist that you join me for dinner aboard the Iron Fist. Shall we arrange a time and place to meet?"

"I believe Lord Zsinj, you'll understand if I am cautious to accept that invitation."

Zsinj's eyes darkened and he leaned forwards threateningly; "you wish to bargain Commander, I am offering you the chance to convince me that force is not how to bring your unit into my fold; do not test my patience. Will you accept my offer?"

Garin took a deep breath before he finally spoke, "if you threaten my people, I guarantee that we will become a very dangerous enemy, and you will wish you'd never heard of us."

There was a long silence as the pair of them stared at one another, two wills testing the other's resolve, finally Zsinj's face broke into a broad smile and he chortled merrily; though to Garin, the sound was far from comforting even if it was obviously mirthful.

"I can't conceive how the Emperor allowed you to live Commander; surely he would have had you killed. You really must tell me more about your unit; I am most interested to hear how such a man as yourself came to control it."

"I interested the right people I suppose," Garin said offhandedly.

"Well then you are gifted in such things because now you have my interest, I am forwarding coordinates for you, I hope you'll not snuff this offer, and do wear something nice, I hate entertaining tasteless guests."

The transmission ended, and Garin turned to look at Sissir who shrugged, "quite the jolly egotist I'll give him that, but he's not nearly as friendly as he seems."

"There's real threat behind his bluster and pomp is what you mean;" Garin said, leaning against the rail and holding his chin thoughtfully, "anything less obvious?"

She nodded, "I did a background check, would it surprise you to learn that he served under Thrawn, and that he has an extreme distaste for him?"

"Pure xenophobia or actual personal dislike," it was no surprise that a flag officer would resent Thrawn being promoted in a human dominated navy.

"Oh he apparently actually hates Thrawn on a purely personal level that has nothing to do with Thrawn being an alien;" she considered for a moment and frowned, "you know I never thought about it before, but does anyone actually know what Thrawn is?"

"Got me," Garin said with a shrug, "Iriana any recommendations?"

"If we're going to meet him sir, there's little we can do other than try not to get on his bad side until after we've cleared the Iron Fist; I'm sure its rather obvious that the Knight cannot go against that monster."

"No faith in your ship Captain?"

She gave him a friendly glower, "I'll face the jaws of whatever hell you walk us into, but an Executor is another matter." Her features shifted slightly as she continued, "are you serious about the bacta raids?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"And you'll give it to Zsinj just like that?"

"We need to insulate ourselves, dodging Isard's fractured Empire was one thing, Zsinj controls as much space as the Remnant or the Republic and is better organized than the former and more ruthless than the latter. If we don't do this then we'll have more than idle threats to deal with."

"You're afraid of him," the three of them turned to see Vic'que leaning against the wall of the Cave.

Garin looked at the others and the technicians manning their stations around the Cave before nodding; "terrified."

"And yet you're going to walk right into his lair to bargain with him," she said wonderingly, walking down into the pit to join them. "You make no sense even in the best of circumstances."

"I try," he said with a smile, "it seems to keep me alive."

She sighed and shook her head, "sir, what are we going to do?"

"We're going to survive, which is exactly what we have been doing."

Iriana raised an eyebrow, "you're thinking again."

"How can you tell?" Sissir said, as Garin's gaze turned to her, or more accurately her figure; she eyed him uncertainly. "Toth is going to object to that look."

"Let him, I just had an idea, in your opinion what would you say Zsinj's view on women was?"

"He probably sees them as objects, pieces of art to be looked at," Vic'que supplied, and then her eyes narrowed. "I left my family because I didn't want to be paraded around as some kind of bargaining chip. If you expect me to—"

"I'm not asking you to marry him," Garin cut her off, "just to distract him, find something nice to wear, both of you."

He turned to leave, leaving the three women standing there exchanging worried glances.

"Does anyone else think he's stretching himself?" Vic'que asked a frown on her face.

"I didn't know you cared," Sissir said placidly, shrugging off the glare that earned her. "Don't give me that look, you used to want him dead half the time."

"People change," Iriana said sagely, "and I think he is too in his own way. He sees all of us as his responsibility."

"All I know," Sissir said simply, "is that if he expects me to wear a dress I'll put my boot up his rear."

Vic'que snorted, shaking her head and wondering just what Garin had in mind this time.

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbrinji Shipyards

"Wait you wanted your people to do what?"

"Provide a distraction," I answered calmly, though I was smiling inside.

"You wanted your female officers to dress up for Zsinj so you could get a better deal from him!" She said accusingly.

"The sexes are an amusing thing aren't they?" I asked with a smirk, "warlords are no different from other men, throw a beautiful woman in front of them and they'll have all kinds of thought conflicts."

"I don't believe this, if you asked me to do that I'd shoot you."

"Major Yvonne almost did, I'm lucky that she agreed to come at all and just wear her uniform. I think she wanted to kill me when I first explained the plan."

"What about Luixana? After all, it was his woman that you were using."

"Oh he had a good laugh, and a few extra bruises in the next sparring round he participated in. I had a bloody nose and a few sprains."

"Serves you right," she said with a scowl, "so how did you get out of that one?"

"The usual way, a lot of bluster and quick thinking; a little confidence goes a long way."

"You mentioned that you were actually afraid of Zsinj, care to tell me why?"

"He was a man who managed to convince the Republic that he was not a threat, what more need I say?"

"We had other problems," she said defensively, another nerve hit. "Isard and the Imperial Remnant were a bigger threat at the time."

"Right," I said with a smile, "in all honesty, Zsinj was always a bigger threat than Isard. If she had Zsinj's political prowess she may have been a real threat, but she was really just a madwoman with delusions of reliving past glory."

"You were afraid of her," she pointed out tersely. "Doesn't that prove she was a threat?"

"I was afraid of Lusankya," I corrected calmly, "not Isard. Isard by herself was harmless compared to Hades; however the Lusankya was another matter entirely. We could never hope to take down an Executor."

"Rogue Squadron did," she pointed out smugly.

"They had a lot of help from what I hear, and the backing of a governmental body if I remember correctly; we were on our own with one heavy cruiser and a wing of fighters. The closest thing we had to an ally at that point was Azzameen and his corporation. We needed the guarantee of Iron Fist to ensure that Isard wouldn't send Lusankya after us."

"Did you always intend to engage her Thyferra operations?"

I nodded, "she was exactly what we were fighting against, rogue officials taking chunks of the galaxy for themselves."

"And Zsinj was different?" She asked incredulously, I swore that she was accusing me of being hypocritical; which I suppose to be fair, was at least partially true. To be honest, siding with Zsinj had gone against everything we'd been fighting for, but we needed protection at that point, between the Remnant, the Republic, Zsinj, and the various other rogue states cropping up, the galaxy was getting too crowded to be neutral.

"Zsinj, at the very least, was sane if nothing else. He was also ingenious, you might not know this, but even though he and Thrawn never liked one another, Thrawn always respected his abilities to work with what was provided him…."